Regulation



Feb. 21, 1933.

R. C. ROE

REGULATION Fil ed Jan. 28, 19:50

,6: ATTORNEY R. C. ROE

REGULATION Feb. 21, 1933.

Filed Jan. 28, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 .BNVENTOR BY Patented Feb. 21, 1 933 UNITED s'm'ras PATENT OFFICE RALPH C. ROE, 01f ENGLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF '10 STEPHEN W. BORDER, F SUMMIT, NEW JERSEY REGULATION Application filed January 28, 1980. Serial No. 423,918.

My invention relates particularly to steam power plants and more generally to regulation of flow of fluids. In one particular phase of my invention it relates to automatic regulating mechanism for proportioning flow of feed water to the flow of steam, with special reference to plants having a steam generating unit supplying steam to different prime movers.

Amongst the objects of my invention are: To properly proportion the flow of feed water to the flow of steam in a steam plant; to provide a novel method and apparatus for the regulation of'flow of feed water in accordance with flow of steam in a steam plant; to provide a novel and efiicient flow proportioner; to proportion flow in a steam plant between sections thereof; andto provide adjustments for flow control in connection with my novel flow proportioner.

Further objects and the nature and advantages of the invention will become apparent on consideration ofthe following specification taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings showing, more or less diagrammatically, steam plant apparatus embodying flow-regulating mechanism in accordance with the invention.

With respect to the figures of the drawm s:

Tig. 1 is a diagrammatic representatio of a steam plant embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 shows one member of a rotatable regulating device; 3

Fig. 3 shows a cooperating member of the regulating device;

Fig. 4 is a more or less dlagrammatic representation ofthe regulating device;

Fig. 5 shows a steam plant having a pinrality of turbine units to which the invention is applied; and

Fig. 6 shows a valve in a pipe for ad usting flow.

Referring to Fig. 1, reference character 10 designates a source of steam or steam generating unit which may consist of one or moreboilers fired in any of various ways. The steam generating unit 10 suppliessteam to conduit 12, which is connected to a turbine or other type of prime mover or steam consumer 13. The turbine 13 is shown as driving an electric generator 14. A condenser 15 is connected to receive steam from the turbine. through conduit 16 by means of a pump 17 therein and is discharged into a feed water heater 18 supplied with steam through conduit 19. The water flows through conduit 21 and pump 20, which may be a multi-stage pump, and thence through the conduit 22 back to the vaporsource 10. Pump 20 is a flow-controlling element in the liquid conduit 21-22 since the speed thereof determines or controls the rate of flow of liquid therein. Pump 20 is driven by a motor 23, the speed of which is controlled in a manner which will now be described.

In conduit 22 is an orifice plate 24 con stituting a flow-measuring element. As is known, thg difference of pressure on the two sides of an orifice may be used to measure or register flow. The impulse tubes 25 and 26 are connected to conduit 22 at the two sides of the orifice plate 24. The impulse tube 26 carries a higher pressure than the impulse tube 25 due to the drop of pressure through the orifice.

Referring to Fig. 4; the two impulse tubes 25 and 26 connect into casing 27 on opposite sides of a diaphragm 28 in such manner that the diaphragm 28 is subjected to the differential of pressure existing on the two sides of'the orifice plate 24 in conduit 22. Variations of this differential of pressure move the center of diaphragm 28 and are utilized to rotate a member 29 (see also Fig. 3) through suitable power-transmitting mechanism such as rod 30, lever 31, rod 32, lever and rack 33, and pinion 34. Obviously, any ratio of leveragemay be used which will best suit the circumstances, and the arrangement of parts may be varied.

In conduit 12 is an orifice plate which likewise serves thegpurpose of registering or measuring flow. Connected to conduit 12 at each side of orifice plate 35 .are impulse tubes 36 and 37. These tubes transmit the steam pressure on the two sides of orifice plate 35 to the two sides of diaphragm 38 in chamber 39. The differen- The condensate is conducted 38 and the. member 44.

Members 29 and 44 constitute a switch or switches for controlling an electric circuit which in turn controls the speed of the motor 23. The side members 45 and 46 of 5 member 29 are made of electric conducting material. Member 29 is formed with a nonconducting member, which may be the, back piece such that there is no electric conduction between members and 46. Two electric leads 4'? and 48 are connected to the members 45 and 46, respectively. In the outer end of member 29 are two screws 49 and 50, constituting electric contacts which are adapted to engage the contact points 51 I and 52, respectively, on member 44. Member 44 is made of electric cOnductingmaterial. A lead 53 is connected to member 44. The leads 47, 48 and 53 are connected to a known type of regulator 54, which varies the speed-of motor 23. The members 29 and 44 are pivoted atand may be arranged in conjunction with a dial 56 to show the position thereof.

The operation of the apparatus is as 01- lows: Suppose that the rate of supply of steam to turbine 13 increases as, for example, due to an increased opening of the steamsupply valve to the turbine due to a centrifugal governor thereon responsive to speed. The greater rate of flow of steam throu h conduit 12 results in a greater pressure ifi'erential on'the two sides of orifice plate 35. This means that the pressure will be relatively higher in tube 36 than in tube 37. The result of this will be an increase of pressure on the upper side of dia hragm 38 relative to the pressure on the un er side thereof. This will cause a counter-clockwise movement of member or arm .44. As a result of this, contact point 52 on member 44 contacts the screw contact member 50 of arm or member 29. This contact causes flow of electricity to the regulator 54 as a result of which the speed of electric motor 23 is increased and more water is pumped by the pump 20. The result of more pumping b the pump 20 is to increase the pressure di ferential through orifice late 24 so that the pressure is relatively higher in tube 26 than in tube 25. This causes an upward movement of diaphragm 28, as a result of which .arm 29 is moved in counter-clockwise direction, thus moving the contact 52 awa from the contact 50. The regulator 54 1s such that, having increased the speed of motor 23,

this speed will stay constant at the increased rate until the regulator 54 is again energized by further electric contact. Consequently, as will be seen, the increase in steam flow has resulted in an increased speed of the pump 20, thus increasing the rate of flow of water through conduit 22.

Conversely, assume that the rate of flow of steam through conduit 12 decreases. The pressure difierential across orifice 35 will then be less. This will move diaphragm 38 upwardly as a result of which arm 44 will move in clockwise direction. Contact point 51 will then contact screw 49 and electric connections will be made such that regulator 54 will decrease the speed of motor .23. This will decrease the rate of flow of feed water in conduit 22 as a result of which the pressure difierential across the orifice 24 will decrease whereby diaphragm 28 will move downwardly, thus rotating arm 29 clockwise so that contact 49 moves away from contact 51 and the relay circuit is again broken.

It will be seen from the above that so long as the flow of liquid bears a definite relation to the flow of steam, the arm 44 will remain midway between the side contacts of arm 29, irrespective of the posltlon of the two arms on the scale member 56. If, however, the proportionvarleselectric contacts will be made by the arms whlch will readjust the flow to a proper proportion, and which will thus bring back the regulator to the intermediate position of equillbrmm.

In place of using the pump as the flowcontrolling element, the. flow-controlling element may be a valve as shown at 57 the pump then running at constant speed. Such valve will be operated by a motor 58 or otherwise to decrease the valve opening when the steam-flow decreases, and conversely, to increase the valve opening when the steam fiow increases. This valve is connected to the regulator by electric wires 59 ,I have shown switches 60 and 61 to indicate that the valve or the pump may be used alternately as the elements for controlling the rate of flow. When the valve is used, if the diaphragm 38 moves downwardly due to increased steam flow, and contact po1nt 52 contacts screw 50, the electric energlzation is such that the valve 57 is opened to a wlder position.

' In order to take care of varratlons pver a period of time or to make deslred ad ustments, I have provided valves 62 and 63 arranged in parallel with the orifice plates 24 and 35, respectively. One or the other of these valves may be used, but I prefer to use only the valve 62 arranged in parallel with the orifice plate 24. This valve is preferably provided with a pointer 64, as

shown in Fi 6, and with a scale 65 to indicate how t e valve should be turned to obtain higher or lower boiler water level. Turning the valve in one direction will cause the boiler water level to gradually increase so long as the .valve is left in that position, while turning it in the opposite direction will have the opposite result. It will be understood that this valve and its plpe, in parallel with the orifice plate 24, constltute a permanently open by-pass.

The regulating arrangement is particularly advantageous in connection with boiler plants wherein there are a number of boilers all connected to a common steam header and a number of turbines all taking steam from the same steam header. This is still more particularly true of plants using open feed water heaters as disclosed in mv copending application Serial No. 399,152. filed October 12th, 1929, Pat. No. 1,857,332, granted May 10, 1932. I have illustrated in Fig. 5 the type of plant whlch I refer to and in combination with which my regulator is particularly advantageous. In Fig. 5 the steam generating {Hill/ 1 0 supplies steam to the header 12. A plurality of turbines 13 and 13a receivessteam from the common header through separate pipes.

The turbines have condensers 15 and 15a. 1

res ectivel and the pumps 17 and 17a puiiip the Zdndensate through the heaters 18 and 18a. Steam is extracted from the turbines through conduits 19 and 19a. Pumps 20 and 20a force the feed water through conduits 22 and 220, into the common feed pipe 66 for supplying feed water to the various boilers of the steam generating unit.

@ther parts including the regulating apparatus are the same as shown inFig. 1, wherefore they are marked w th him reference characters, those pertaining to the turbine 13a being marked additionally with the letter a.

Assume first that an installation as shown in Fig. 5 has no regulating devices for proportioning the feed water flow to the steam flow. Assume now that the load on turbine 13a is heavier than onthe turbine 13. This means that the pump 20a will have a higher discharge pressure than the pump 20 due to the fact that the pumps operate on a pressure difierence The result of this, since the pumps are connected to pump into a common header 66, would be that the pump 20a would pump practically all the water and the pump 20 would pump practically no water, thus offsetting the coordination between steam and water flow in both the parts of the system. However, with my regulating arrangement, the flow of feedwater will be made independent of the discharge pressure of the pumps and will lie-proportioned to the amount of steam flowing to the respective turbines. The manner of operation of this arrangement is the same as described" in connection with Fig. 1, wherefore it need not be repeated here.

While the wiring between the fiow regulator 56 and the flow control device 57 and the motor controller 54 has been shown in its simplest form, for the sake of 'clearness,

it is to be understood that the electrical a flow measuring element in each of said conduits, a flow-controlling element in one of said conduits, a movable member responsive to variations of flow in the first conduit, a movable member responsive to variations of flow in the second conduit said movable members having spaced and contactable relations and means operable on contact of the movable members to control said flow-controlling element to move the movable members out of contact.

2. Apparatus of the character described comprising a conduit for flow of vapor, a conduit for flow of liquid, a flow-controlling element in the liquid conduit, a movable member responsive to variations of flow in the vapor conduit, a movable member responsive to variations of fiow in the liquid conduit, said movable members having spaced and contactable relations and means operable on contact of the movable members to control said flowcontrolling element to move the movable members out of contact.

33. Apparatus of the character described comprising a plurality of conduits for flow of fluid and means for controlling flow of fluid in one conduitin accordance with flow in another conduit comprising a first rotatable member having a plurality of contact points, a second rotatable member mounted coaxially with said first rotatable member and adapted to have contacting and noncontacting positions with respect to said first rotatable member and means responsive to flow in different conduits for rotating said members.

4. Apparatus of the character described comprising a plurality of conduits for flow of fluid and means for controlling flow of fluid in one conduit in accordance with flow in another conduit comprising a first rotatable member having a plurality of contact points, a second rotatable member mounted coaxially with said first rotatable member and adapted to have contacting and noncontacting ositions with respect to said first rotatable member, means responsive to flow in difi'erent conduits for rotating said members, and an indicating dial for showing the position of the rotatable members.

5. Apparatus of the character described comprising a plurality of conduits for flow of fluid and means for controlling flow of fluid in one conduit in accordance with flow in another conduit comprising a first rotatable member having a pluralit ,of contact points, a second rotatable mem r mounted coaxially with said first rotatable member and adapted to have contacting and non-contactin rotata le member, means including flow measuring devices responsive to flow in different conduits for rotating said members,

and controllable by-passes around the flow measuring devices.

6. Apparatus of the character described comprising a. first conduit, a second conduit, a flow measuring element in each of said conduits, a flow controlling member in said second conduit, a first regulating member responsive to flow in said first conduit and having a different given position for each value of flow in said first conduit, a second regulating memberresponsive to flow in said second conduit and having indepeiident movement with respect to said first regulating member and having a different given position for each value of flow in said second conduit, said first regulating member and said second regulating member beingmovable in the same direction on like change in flow in the respective conduits and means for altering the flow controlling member dependent on relative positions of the first and second regulating members.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature.

RALPH C. ROE.

positions with respect to said first 

